Sep. 2016 - Wolf Woods - More Added Fencing....

Since the incident...

Cincinnati Zoo is definitely not wasting any time as they are erecting extra fencing at several exhibits around the zoo. I suppose that when you make international news for a gorilla incident then ensuring something like that never happens again is priority #1.

So far they've added new fencing to the white lion exhibit, gorilla world obviously, and they are in the process of heightening the black Rhino fencing. To me, this one just ruins it... It's a near perfectly natural looking habitat beyond the original boardwalk view and this new fence just lowers the natural look.

Apparently the keepers already had an idea in place for how to create safer yet less obstructive barrier for this exhibit, but they were not consulted before this one was erected...

So they weren't told the fence was gonna be added? They just came to work one day and there was a random fence in the exhibit?

From what I've heard, that's pretty much exactly what happened, yes.

That simply cannot be literally true. The keepers would have to be involved in any construction in or around an enclosure, if only to keep the animals inside while the construction was in progress. Of course, the keepers may have simply been informed "Keep the animals in tomorrow because there is a new fence being installed." And it is not at all unusual in a zoo that they would not have been asked their opinion in advance if the Curator had already been consulted and approved the work.

It is likely not literally exactly how it occurred, and, thus, is why I said "pretty much"; however, from what I heard from a keeper I worked with who had just talked to one of the Bear Line keepers, it was something very similar to this situation, either they arrived for the morning and the construction company that the zoo contracts out for all of their projects had already begun work, having already been given the go-ahead from the General Mammal Curator who is often there early, or they were there waiting for them to begin work once they arrived.